Simply Preparing

As we simply prepare for things, I am reminded each week of all the things we need to prepare for. Even just the little things like a flat tire you need to prepare for!

Right now in the news is the threat of Hurricane Isaac. I hope people have taken into consideration and learned from former storms to have a plan, have a kit, and simply be prepared. But you do not have to wait for big storms to come to prepare. Everyday we have things we need to prepare for.

This is what happened to us Friday night/Saturday morning.

Friday night around 10pm, My daughter had a bad blow out on one tire while driving. She was fine, never lost control. She did what we taught her when she started driving years ago. She slowed down, turned on her hazard lights, slowly got over to the side of the road, found a public busy parking lot and parked. Once she parked (under a big light), she called us and my husband went to help her. They did not get home until after midnight.

Saturday morning we had very bad and severe thunderstorms come through our area. I woke up to the rain, wind then the thunder. A few minutes later the NOAA weather radio went off telling us of the severe thunderstorm, the phone alerts went of on the phones, all at once.  Then there are flooding alerts that then followed. This all started at 5am on Saturday, rain started at midnight. By the end of the day we received over 10 inches of rain. The neighborhood was flooded, most roads were impassable. We are lucky enough to live where we personally were not flooded, but all around us was.  Now I really know why we had to but flood insurance before buying the house! We never lost power.

Since I was up at 5am with the storm I made biscuits, coffee, etc. I then put water into the 5 gallon water cooler, just in case. Put all kits in the same place.

9am comes and a tornado warning comes across the weather radio. We all put our shoes on! I then put all kits into the bathroom, (our safer room) had my daughter put the harness on the cat, grab our purses, blankets etc. Husband watched out one side of the house, I watched the other side of the house, had all 3 TVS on the local weather until the threat passed. We are happy to say the tornado did NOT form near us! Whew!!!

Sad thing is we had to go to the bank to deposit paycheck, get a tire fixed from the evening before. So we had to buy a new tire, have it put on and such. This is also the day I had planned to go grocery shopping. Saturday is errand day anyway, right. lol We were able to do all these things, since we knew ways in and out of the neighborhood even with flooded streets.

All this happened with out warning, all happened with in 24 hours.

We could get by with out fixing the tire, and just used my husbands car if we had to, I did not have to go to the store if I could not of and well the check depositing could of waited until Monday or I could of done it online.

So in 24 hours we had a bad blow out tire, severe thunderstorms with lots of wind, 10 inches of rain, flooding, tornado warning. Non the less we had a busy weekend. But we were prepared for all. Taught our daughter what to do late at night in the dark if she gets a flat tire, and she did it!!! Had out kits for the tornado, etc. We all knew what to do with out being told. We just did it! Husband has his jobs, I have my jobs, Daughter has her jobs. Warning comes across the radio and we DO it! The reason why we just do our jobs, is we have a plan, we talk about our plan and we do out plan.

I look at the warnings as real as they are, glad nothing happens and if they do we know what to do.

Glad this weekend is over and all is good!

First hand Experience of a Tornado

TORNADO

Wow what a few very long and tense hours we had yesterday and into last night. We had Tornado watches posted all day. Then at 8pm our time we had a tornado warning come through. Watching the news and the weather the Tornado came with in 1/4 a mile of us. We could see the winds, and the clouds moving. The official word is that the tornado started as a water spout came on to land becoming a tornado then went back into a water spout over the water and then was making land again.

This is a picture taken by a viewer sent in to the news station. This is over the water as it is coming to land.

The bad thing for the day was the NOAA weather radio was not working. After contacting the news they reported that the station was down due to work crews that had by accident cut down the lines. Not a good day for this to happen. So we were able to keep updated by the local weather and news channels, via the apps they have for the smart phones, facebook, and such. Many of the local news even went and streamed online for those that lost power and could access them via their smart phones.

I was constantly monitoring the weather channel, the apps for weather on my phone. I was alerted to the WARNING via facebook! All since the weather radio was down and not transmitting. I get weather alerts directly to my phone, trust me it was going off all night!

We had our plan in effect and we knew what to do. We were safe and no harm happened to us or where we live. Just 1/4 a mile away is where most things happened. We did have wind and LOTS of rain. There were things that blew around. We had some minor flooding.

Key here is know what to do when watches, and warnings come out. Stay connected to local news channels. Facebook, twitter and the apps that are available are great tools for being updated! Have your family's plan and kits ready to go. Keep things in an easy to get to place. Plan, prepare and be safe. You also need to have a battery powered radio and know what radio station to tune in to.

You also need to follow officials directions. Many people were wanting to look at the damage, it was not safe to be out while there were downed power lines, and debris everywhere. When you are told to stay home, stay inside, it is for a reason.  The pictures and such that are being shared tells us we are all very lucky that no one was hurt seriously. People are out cleaning things up, trying to make things safe. Good news is today is going to be sunny and nice, no storms for today.

When we woke up this morning after all the storms had passed. Trust me I did not sleep all that well. But when we looked out the window, and went outside on our back patio it looked as a brand new day. There was no hint in the sky of the storms and the tornado that came through the night before.

So check another natural disaster of my list of ones I have loved through.